It runs until Friday at the Crowne Plaza, Terrigal NSW Plaza. This year’s them is Sharing the Knowledge: Male health is everyone’s business.3.30 pmThere are five concurrent sessions this afternoon including:

Aboriginal cultural workshop focusing on spiritually guiding young men

AM: Cultural VisitsThe morning was dedicated to cultural visits. I went on a site visit that was masterfully hosted by Stuart McMinn, Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Male Health Conference, a man wise beyond his years. More on this later.

Monday, 19 October 2015

Glen Poole, Director of Helping Men (UK), is in Australia to deliver a series of talks, trainings and workshop.You can find out about the training that is of offer from Helping Men in Australia here. This week he's at the 2015 National Men's Health Gathering in Terrigal, Central Coast, New South Wales.The event combines two conferences: the 11th National Men’s Health
Conference and the 8th National Aboriginal and Torres Island Strait Male Health Convention

It runs until Friday at the Crowne Plaza,
Terrigal NSW Plaza. This year’s them is Sharing the Knowledge: Male health is everyone’s business

The session I'm heading to is a Cultural Workshop chaired by Kim Hopkins. It's called: reconnecting
our past, securing out future – intergenerational trauma and healing in an
aboriginal community and is presented by BJ Duncan, Chair of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council. The talk focuses on how the Land Council fights for rights of Aboriginal land owners in the local area.

Fascinating conversation taking place here---why do we place so much focus on economic and educational equality while ignoring the potential to make indigenous young people's richer culturally and spiritually, asks one delegate?

We do live in both worlds, says BJ Duncan, the black world
and white world and white people get very threatened when we
match them economically

This sesssion starts with traditional dance performance by the
Mingaletta Aboriginal Corporation Dance and Didgeridoo Group. At the end of the performance: we don’t have a word for goodbye because if we don’t see you again in this lifetime we’ll see you again in dreamtime.

10.30 am: Morning Tea Break

9.30 am:

Keynote speech from Associate Professor
Gregory Phillips, Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute. The title of the
speech is: Freedom: What does it mean to act as a strong, healthy black man?

Colonialism affects the oppressed and the
oppressor and the people who watch it (and I know it’s not as simple as that),
says Phillips.

Epidemiology and the tools of public health
can be detrimental to aboriginal health because they treat indigenous people as
a problem---the deficit mode;

There’s long been a belief that “if we
taught white fellas our culture they would magically love us and our services
would improve”.

For too long indigenous people have tried to
tell white people what to do (eg develop policies for indigenous people) and
white people have been telling indigenous people what to do.

While teaching white people about indigenous culture is important, it doesn’t
work on its own.

Those who are ready to hear it, hear it and
those who are not ready to hear, get angry and blame the teachers for being
racist (i.e. you’re racist to me because your talking about colonisation).

More on this later........

Indigenous people should focus on teaching
culture to “our own mob” and

“white fellas” should deal with their part
of the equation is dealing with racism.

Mainstream conversations about indigenous health
tend to focus on “naughty Aboriginal” who miss their health appointments and “naughty
men” who need more counseling.

The public health system produces sickness
because it fails ot address the power imbalance in health in Australia, says
Phillips. This isn’t just wrong for Aboriginals, it’s wrong for white fellas he
says, because it’s not addressing the unlevel playing field.

As a comparison, Phillips mentions that
when the AFL decided it wanted to get women involved in the sport (Australian Rules
Football) employed a women (he emphasizes the fact that it was just one woman).

Her job was not jus to get women interested
in the sport, but also to educate all the blokes about the sexism and male
privilege.

As an aside, he makes clear he’s not saying
that all women are good and men are bad, it’s not that simple, but that some
bloke’s sexism in the sport was a barrier to women.

He says it should have been the men’s
responsibility to address this barrier and in the same way, he says, it is the
responsibility of white people to address the institutional racism that impact
son Aboriginal health.

He says meritocracy is a myth for
Aboriginal people. He says the way you define the problem is how you define the solution. He says the question of power imbalance is never taken into account --- and cites the negative response to Adam Goodes' Aboriginal goal-scoring celebrations as an example of the lack of power Aboriginal people have to express their culture in White society.
He says the statistics are there to make out that
Aboriginals are all bad, mad and sad---but when do we talk about strengths?
When do we talk about what Aboriginal men can teach white men about how to
father, for example.

Aboriginal people are the oldest culture in
the world and have the knowledge that the worlds need, the ability to adapt and
survive---a knowledge that is becoming increasingly for an international
community faced with climate change.

It suits those in power to maintain a
negative narrative about “naughty Aboriginal people who need to stop drinking”
for example, he says.

He moves on to talk about Whiteness, by
which he means a set of values and beliefs---a mind set of power and privilege which
promotes neo-liberalism as the only way of thinking and presents science as
purely objective and not a cultural concept.

There’s a lot of black people who have
taken on values of whiteness because we are colonised and we’re all still recovering
form colonisation, he says. We are still emerged from “the mouth of the snake”.

He says when the elder did the traditional
song in his welcome this morning, he could hear his song and he could hear the
strength of the culture that can survive from the onslaught of colonisation,
but he can feel that the suffering cause d by colonisation is still having and
impact---and that’s what’s in the way of Aboriginal health improving

That stuff, he says, is white people’s work to do, not the work
of indigenous people.

He draws a parallel with gender, saying
that the work being done with men is making the world safer for women and that
it’s not women’s responsibility to do this work

He says white people need to refuse to be
complicit in white privilege in the way that men need to refuse to be complicit
in five centuries of male privilege.

He says I don’t know why white people ended
up here in Australia but maybe colonisation happened because we have something
to teach each other

Maybe non-Aboriginal people need to learn
love off Aboriginal people.

In a classic domestic violence relationship
the man is the one with physical power, mental power and the power of male
privilege, he says.

In that relationship he blames her and
conversely she blames him---it becomes “he said, she said”.

Yes the man is sick in that relationship,
he says, but so is the woman, through no fault of her own, she becomes sick as
well.It’s a sick power relationship where over time both become sick

And that’s what’s happening with black and
white people, he says. We’re blaming each other. Colonisation is continuing,
not through shooting and violent oppression as was once the case, but through
white values of motivations---and over time Aboriginal people become sick in
that relationship.

Over time we think we deserve nothing
better, he says.We blame them and they blame us.

Of course genocide is a type of domestic
violence, he says. It creates a sick
power relationship where the two parties blame each other relentlessly.

I’m interested in how we get out of the sick
power imbalance.

The way we do that is the work you (the
delegates working with indigenous men) are doing. Working with our own mob, working with culture

And what people need to do is to go and
work “with your own people” about racism. I need you to work on level the
playing field so we can do Aboriginal health.

I know it’s not that simple and it’s not
that clean, he says, but a new spiritual relationship is needed between
indigenous and non-indigenous people.

Finally, he refers a traveler saying that
knowledge is acquiring information,

Knowledge is acquiring new information and
wisdom is the ability to let go of everything that we’ve ever known.

I can’t sayI agree with everything said, but it was a fascinating presentation that stretched
and challenged my thinking---and will continue to do so for some time, I’m
sure.

Atraditional welcome to country is delivered by elder “Uncle Gavi” Duncan,
followed by a welcome address and conference opening is from Dr Mick Adam,
Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, Edith Cowan
University.

He has be promoting men’s health and
wellbeing for over a decade, both nationally and internationally.

He says Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islanders are some of the most linguistically and culturally divers peoples and
custodians of some of the most biologically diverse lands---an invaluable
resource that benefits all of mankind.

Yet they continue to suffer disadvantage,
marginalisation, extreme poverty and conflict, says Mick.. Within this context,
neglecting male health not only inefficient and leads to suffering and
premature death.

The vision of many Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander males has been to work to overturn negative stereotypes,ben to take great responsibility
themselves and adopt a diverse range of strategies such as running men’s
clinics, men’s projects, “men’s business” camps, sports projects, survivors
groups , men’s support groups etc.

The delegates present all have a common aim
of empowering men, says Mick adding:

“The empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Males is crucial to the raising of self esteem, quality of life
and spiritual wellbeing. We as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Males are
often seen as the problem, we are never rewarded for our efforts in providing
solutions.”

“You’re all champions, you’re all elders
and certainly the backbone of improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander males,” he concludes.

Sunday, 18 October 2015

Helping Men's personal development
workshop, Your Masculinity Rules, will be delivered in Australia for the first time next month.

The course is designed for men who want to develop a
deeper awareness and understanding of themselves. Its aim is to help participants to explore what it means to be a man in the
21stcentury and decide for themselves what their "masculinity
rules" are.

Glen Poole, Director of Helping Men, says: "All
men have a set of masculinity rules that shape our daily experience of being a
man. Yet few of us have made ourselves aware of these rules, let alone
questioned where they come from and whether they are helping or hindering us in
our daily lives.
"This course won't tell you how you should live your life, what it will do
is provide a unique opportunity to explore what it means to be a man in the
21st century and decide for yourself what Your Masculinity Rules are."

The program is designed for service providers in areas such as health promotion, parenting, education, social care, mental health, support groups, community safety and housing. The course if for anyone concerned with helping men and boys get better access to and outcomes from their existing services, or anyone interested in developing new services and projects for men and boys.

To leave you with a broad understanding of the barriers men and boys face and give you the skills & knowledge you need to help men and boys overcome these barriers and access the services and projects you run.

DEVONPORT Thursday November 26 The Salvation Army 166 William Street, DevonportWOLLONGONG Wednesday Dec 2Adina Apartment Hotel, WollongongNEWCASTLE, Friday December 4Joy Cummins Centre, 63 Scott Street NewcastleThe Melbourne/Tasmania dates also include an opportunity to take part in our personal development workshop, Your Masculinity Rules. See this link for details.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW

$260 for one day of training, resources, refreshments and lunch. EARLY BIRD RATE $230 if registration is paid three weeks prior to the training date.

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Glen Poole, Director of Helping Men (UK), is in Australia to deliver a series of talks, trainings and workshop.

His first stop is the National Boys' Education Conference at Kings School in Parramatta, Sydney.

The conference brings together internationally and nationally acclaimed speakers on the top of boys' welling, character education, and the importance of relationships towards boys' engagement and success as learners.

The conference theme is Inspiring Boys to Learn, you can find out more at the event website here.

Only 1 in 3 millennial men in the USA are
heading up their own home. We’re finding too many boys who are refusing to grow up and leave home and be independent.

Any weakness in boys is usually neutralised
by saying girls have weaknesses too. I think that is totally unacceptable says
Dr Hawkes.

Only 38% of university enrolments in Australia are male.

We need patrons for boys.

When we highlight the need to focus on boys, people say girls have weaknesses too

People say girls underperformance in numeracy is cancelled out by boys underperformance in numeracy. But the impact of poor literacy skills is underestimated, because it affects all subjects.

People are more interested in equity between people of different social economic statuses, but not gender (when men and boys are unequal)/

We are told that men dominate in society and that therefore boys
must be dominated. That corollary is an appalling corollary says Dr Hawkes.

"Castrataion anxieties" is a term being
lobbed at anyone who is wanting to advance and be a patron of boys.

We need to understand what being a male means and to celebrate
maleness as a part of the yin and yang of creation.

Don’t get bound by gender stereotypes, we need to go beyond the macho stereotype and allow psop

With one murder of a woman in a relationship every five days, we need to do something about that.

We need to respect and honour the opposite sex.

13.30pm

Time for the last set of break out workshops. I've decided to spend this with Blair Dravitsk, principal at Ohakune Primary in New Zealand, who is telling us about his Elite Rugby Institute project.

It was established because a particular cohort of Maori boys were under achieving academically. Attendance of some boys was as low as 50%.

A process of investigation revealed that the only two things these boys really valued is Whakapapa (family) and rugby.

The school introduced a new ABC
Policy:

Attendance---every learner has attendance of 85% an above (up from a
baseline of 50% to 60%)

Behaviour---every learner must display positive behaviour at school,
at home and in the community

Commitment---every learner is committed to academic progress and learning
in classPlaying rugby gave the boys an opportunity to succeed and fell like a success. Attendance rose to over 90% in the first year of the programme and educational performance across the group of boys rose in line with the national standard.The rugby also brought the dads into the school.

LUNCH
Had a great conversation with a Sydney teacher over lunch who told me about a "Man Day" he arranged for the boys at his school---sounds great, looking forward to finding out more.

12.09pm: Classroom Demonstrations
There are a load of classroom demonstrations running concurrently. My playful side really, really, REALLY, wanted to go to the session in the drama studio on stage fighting. However, wearing my researcher hat I've come to a Year Five session on empathy.

Here the teacher has been actively working to develop the boys' empathy and emotional intelligence. One of the resources she has drawn upon is an initiative called Start Empathy.

The boys have been doing a listening exercise in pairs and now they are reporting back to the group trying to name to emotions their partner was feeling. The emotions the boys name include: envy, jealousy, fear, worry, sadness, annoyance, confusion, hurt, surprise, nervousness, frustration, happiness and disappointment.

11.30 am: Character Education
Just finished presenting my own "Lightning Session" on "Evolving Masculinity" in the "Mental Wellbeing" stream and nipped over to the sessions themed "Character Wellbeing".

Last speaker in this sessions is Melissa Abu-Gazaleh, CEO and founder of the Top Blokes Foundation which delivers programmes to boys and young men in schools.

10.45 am

Lightning Sessions

As with yesterday, there are three separate “Lightning Sessions” on the following themes:

Relational Learning

Mental Wellbeing

Character Education

Each session comprises around five talks of about 10-12 minutes each. I’ll be presenting in one of these sessions so expect the blogging to slow down a little (and possibly all together).

My session is called “Evolving Masculinity” and is designed to provide a space for delegates to consider how they can support the boys they work with to grow and evolved as individuals who are proud of their own unique expression of masculinity, whatever that is.

10.00 am

Dr Ed Dixon is joined on the stage by 12 school boys for a panel discussion where we hear from the boys what subjects they enjoy and what approaches to teaching work for them. This mostly confirms the key themes of Dr Ed Dixon's keynote.

What makes a good learning relationship
with boys is he must succeed in your presence.

Boys who value learning improve classroom
dynamics

Focus on helping girls in maths in 90s paid
off, focus on boys education can may off too.

Boys of all economic backgrounds are in the
lowest quartile of performers. Boys seem to have this thing about movement from the earliest stages, they are kinaesthetic learners. Dr Dixon references an experiment with 10 week old babies given an option to look at a mobile and their mother's face. He says 80% of girls look at mum's face, 80% of boys look at the moving object, the mobile.

One research study into street kids in
Brazil showed they were better at working out the weight and cost of scrap
metal on the streets, where it mattered but not in classroom settings when the
tests had no meaning.

The Six Secrets of Boys Learning

The following six things help boys learn:

Movement

Humour

Games

Challenge

Mastery

Meaning

Movement---when you put boys into a position where they embody the concept
you’re talking about, they are better able to understand what they are talking
about.

Games---when boys set and achieve goals they get a testosterone jolt.
Boys need wins in a classroom. Games are a great way to engage boys and give
them a chance to win. Males

Humour---for boys humour is unbelievably important. When they do surveys
on which teachers boys like, humour rates very highly. Humour helps to focus
attention, particularly in the moment.Males use humour as a way to bond with others, it’s coded affection.
Humour helps male confront the chaos of the universe.Humour can take something that’s really large and make it
small.

Challenge---Challenges give boys little bursts of testosterone. A good
example is to beat the clock, you can get a man to do almost everything if you
time it.

Mastery---males want to be coached into a mastery (as Clark Wight discussed in
his session on the Obi Wan Kenobi theory.

Meaning --- One of the most
important questions we need to help boys ask is “what am I good for?”. Every
boy has a hero complex, every boy wants to be a hero in some way.